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John Thrasher says he ‘forgot’ and ‘did not lie’ about flights

This afternoon, Jacksonville television station WJXT reports John Thrasher’s reasoning for not disclosing seven of his flights on state planes when responding to facts surrounding his wild spending record as House Speaker. Emphasis is our own.

When it first aired, Channel 4 spoke with Thrasher about that and he said, “I flew the state airplane my two years as speaker one time, and it was six people on that plane.”

Now the group behind the ad Stop Tax Waste, Inc. said that’s not true. They are sending out a mailer that says Thrasher told News4Jax reporter Jim Piggott he flew the state airplane one time. It says state records just revealed that Thrasher blatantly lied.

Stop Tax Waste produced state documents that show Thrasher has flown on the plane seven times and once by himself.

“I did not lie to you,” Thrasher told Channel 4’s Jim Piggott. “If I misrepresented myself and forgot something I did 10 years ago and there were other times I was on the airplane, obviously, and you look at those and they were with Gov. (Jeb) Bush at his request.”

Thrasher’s invocation of Jeb Bush in his statement follows numerous commercials and mail pieces heavily featuring the former Governor, even at times to the exclusion of the actual candidate. It is also misleading, since Thrasher only flew with Bush on two of the eight flights.

Thrasher also repeated his claim that Stop Tax Waste is nothing more than a front for the trial lawyer lobby, which is ironic since Thrasher has worked as a lobbyist for multiple trial lawyers and has received campaign contributions from several more.

When asked about their new mailers, Stop Tax Waste spokesman John Harrington explained:

“The fact is he not only lied to Jim, but he lied to voters of this district. So he lied to the voters of this district, and we are shedding light on that. They need to know about that.”